Reviews

Hate it. So the message of Andor is it's ok to commit murder as long as it for the benefit of the cause. So the ends justify the means. Great Messaging Disney. That is not what Star Wars is about.

Probably the best disney star wars show to release since the mandalorian.

If you liked 'Rogue One', you'll likely enjoy this prequel (set five years before Rogue One). Some familiar people, places and creatures, but also some unfamiliar ones. I personally love the flashbacks to Cassian's childhood. It helps to flesh out his character and explain how he became the person that he did. It's gritty and realistic with great cinematography. Some might say it's slow, but do yourself a favour and watch the first three episodes in close succession... as they really do fit together as a movie length introduction to the series.

Great show so far, I do have problems with the Rebel's morals but I am enjoying so far!

The one and only Star Wars TV/movie story that is actually good and not just a visual spectacle. Yeah, I said that. Don't fight me though. I have only ever watched Star Wars shows and movies for the visuals and fight scenes. Never have I actually been captured by the stories. But Andor... it's just on a whole different level. Well done to the writers here. Some of the best non-movie visuals ever as well!

"Star Wars: Andor" takes a different approach to the galaxy far, far away. It's not about lightsaber duels or epic space battles, but rather the gritty reality of rebellion. This series delves into the everyday struggles of people fighting for a cause, and it does so with a refreshing realism that resonated with me deeply. As a Star Wars fan, I've always been drawn to the core philosophy of the franchise – the constant struggle between good and evil, the reminder that life is about making choices and aligning yourself with one side or the other. "Andor" embraces this theme, but instead of showcasing grand battles and heroic deeds, it examines the everyday compromises and sacrifices that fuel a rebellion. Cassian Andor, the series protagonist, is a welcome change from the typical Star Wars hero. He's not a Jedi with supernatural powers or a charismatic pilot with a knack for the Force. He's a man driven by personal loss and a deep sense of injustice, forced to make hard choices in a brutal, unforgiving world. He's flawed, relatable, and his Latin background adds a distinct layer of cultural richness to the story. "Andor" doesn't shy away from the darker aspects of the Star Wars universe. It explores the bureaucratic machinery of the Empire, the moral compromises people make to survive, and the devastating consequences of war on ordinary citizens. This level of detail and realism gave the series a powerful sense of immediacy, making me feel like I was truly a part of this world. While I appreciate the epic scale and grand adventures of the Skywalker saga, "Andor" offered something different. It provided a nuanced and complex exploration of the political and social forces that shape the Star Wars galaxy. It gave me a deeper understanding of the sacrifices made by the rebels, the price of freedom, and the enduring power of hope in the face of tyranny. If you're looking for a Star Wars story that goes beyond the lightsaber battles and focuses on the human cost of rebellion, "Andor" is a must-watch. It's a compelling and thought-provoking series that reminds us that the fight for freedom is a complex and often messy struggle.

"Andor" functions as a gritty tale of war and politics but it fails to fit into the Star Wars universe. Take away the storm troopers, the X-Wings and the general Star Wars trappings and Andor is hard to distinguish from any other series, that mixes a slow burn political drama and warfare. Its simply too harsh, cruel and gritty to merge comfortably into the lively, larger than life, swashbuckling world, that George Lucas crafted so well, back in the late 1970's. The result is a discordant series, that, like aspects of latter day Star Trek series, is simply too cynical, for this franchise. In summary, if you want a political military drama in space, I suppose this will do. That said, for those of us old enough to have come, wide eyed to the fabulous, adventurous world, beyond the stars, Star wars presented us with, in 1977, this series simply doesn't fit. A pass from me.

Andor is one of the most important pieces of television to come out of this decade. Despite its connections to one of media's mega franchises Andor grows beyond what it means to be part of Star Wars and delivers something that expands its world in so many ways. Star Wars has never felt so real, intense and emotionally resonate. The things this show is saying are all so important to the world, it's past, present and future. Andor's characters are also simply sublime, brought beautifully to the screen by their actors it's incredibly difficult to pick favourites. This was just a quick write up so I apologize if it's a bit messy— may try and do something more in depth at a later date.

People talk about when Star Wars: A New Hope released in theaters, it was a watershed moment for the whole entertainment industry and popular culture at large. There was a before Star Wars, and an after Star Wars in 1977, especially in terms of special effects and what was now possible to film, thanks to George Lucas' innovative filming techniques with his production company, Industrial Light and Magic. Although Andor has not had as much of a cultural impact that the first movie had all those years ago...For me, when I saw the first season of Andor, There was a before Andor, and after Andor, especially in terms of writing and worldbuilding. How I understand the stories capable of being told with the Star Wars IP, and the medium of film, will forever be changed. Andor is not only the best media that Star Wars has ever produced, I put forward that Andor is the best television that I have ever had the pleasure of watching. I highly doubt that the Star Wars franchise will ever be able to produce something as high of quality as Andor ever again. Andor is an exception to the standard of high quality. It is lightning in a bottle. It is nectar from the gods. It is a sliver of the infinite. There are multiple things that make being able to produce a work of similar quality to Andor in the Star Wars franchise an unrealistic expectation. A few of these reasons are that Andor was always set to be a limited two season only show, and secondly head producers Tony Gilroy and Diego Luna (also lead actor) making comments on multiple occasions that they are leaving the Star Wars Franchise to pursue other projects. With that said, I do have the full expectation that future Star Wars works to be of a higher quality due to the production pipeline's that had to be set in place for a show such as Andor to be made, but I doubt it will be anything like Andor. Mark my words, this show will stand the test of time as one of the greats of television history. It might possibly be a decade or more before we see another television show that reaches or surpasses the heights that Andor reached. Genre: Most people who take a scholarly approach to their interpretation and viewing of Star Wars, usually categorize this franchise as being in the epic fantasy genre based upon it's writing, story elements and heavy reliance on mythology, even though it visual elements make it seem like it is science fiction. Some people might say that Andor is the result of when Star Wars makes a full transition into the science fiction genre. I think this is more accurate of the writing techniques used in Andor, but I actually think Andor is still not science fiction... I put forward that Andor is best interpreted as still being in the fantasy genre. but not epic fantasy. I think Andor is dark fantasy. Fantasy usually concerns itself with themes of good vs evil and morality, spirituality, and unexplainable phenomena, whereas science fiction usually concerns itself with themes of philosophy, scientific discovery, and new technologies that would transform the human experience, or change society at large. By this understanding, I think it becomes clear that Star Wars as a franchise hardly ever delves into the realm of science fiction, and Andor is easily still categorized as fantasy with how much it emphasizes that good must triumph over evil. While there are undoubtedly science fiction elements in Star Wars, like the medical ethics of cloning technology, and the ontology (rights and freedoms) of robots, Star Wars almost never makes these elements the main thrust of its plots and themes, but rather spends the majority of its thematic developments on the spirituality of all things, hope, and the inevitable triumph of good over evil. What makes Andor a dark fantasy as opposed to epic fantasy is its display of how terrible everything is. This show goes to great lengths to show how much a struggle it is to live in the Star Wars universe. In typical fantasy stories, making a moral decision based off of virtue has a reward. But in a dark fantasy, decisions based off of virtue have no reward. Every morally good decision has a great sacrifice and deeply unfortunate consequences. This type of genre storytelling usually involves great nuance in its storytelling. Making a virtuous decision often comes at a great cost and causes harm, so making the most morally good decision is actually not the most moral thing to do at all times. Epic fantasy is great as an instructional tool for telling an audience the differences between right and wrong, and good and evil. Dark fantasy is great at inviting it's audience to be in conversation with it, about how do we actually apply the principles of right and wrong, and good and evil, with a variety of case study examples through the stories use of dramatic scenarios. There is a lot to be said about Andor's use of the Hero's Journey that George Lucas so famously popularized in the original Star Wars film. I do not have enough familiarity with this common story structure for a character to talk about it in length. But I know it enough to recognize that Andor is playing off of the same ideas, and directly contrasting and improving its use in the original trilogy. Pacing: Another unique thing about this show is it's pacing and presentation being done in multi-episode story arcs, instead of each episode being an easy starting point and stopping point for its stories. This show's stories are told in a semi anthology format, with each major story being told in 3 episode lengths, before moving on to another major story beat. In the next 3 episodes. This way of telling stories is probably most people's biggest barrier to entry into Andor. So my recommendation to watching this if it is not quite clicking for you, is to watch it through the first 3 episodes before deciding if you wish to continue with this show. Star Wars already has a tradition of telling stories in this multi-part anthology format with the animated shows """"Star Wars: The Clone Wars"""", Star Wars: Rebels, and the Tales of. To me, taking this format for storytelling makes sense for the franchise because it has already been established as a unique element of this multi-media franchise. The difference between this show, and it's animated counterparts, is that it leans into the expanded horizons that having more time to tell a story in multi-episode arcs affords it. Andor tells a more nuanced, adult and emotionally affecting story with this different pacing than what we are used to seeing in television. This show's writing is very tight, and often spoken with brevity. Almost every detail and line of dialogue is has a nuanced cause, with every narrative thread having an eventual payoff in the plot. This type of writing is hard to do by itself, but the writing goes a step further by having most scenes serve an intentional allegorical purpose, directly speaking to the viewing audience while not coming off as woke or cringy, unlike other recent works in the Star Wars franchise has done in the past decade. Andor is a direct commentary about how revolutionary movements form, and response to rising fascism in many governments across the globe. Whether it is intentional or not, this show's messaging seems be in support of violent revolution as a valid and just means to combat fascism. Part of it, is that it is hard to make an entertaining piece of media without some sort of dramatic violence. The title character, Andor has surprising similarities with the early life of Stalin. The character, Luthen has similarities with Vladimir Lenin. Luthen particularly is portrayed as an accelerationist. Meaning he wants to take actions that would lure the government to increase its oppressive and violent means of enforcing justice. This will result in more people being oppressed, encouraging the common person to join dissenting revolutionary movements, and take a chance on creating other forms of government, because they will never be able to live a life with basic fundamental rights and justice under the current government. The Machiavellian in me that knows a little about Realpolitik philosophy see's Luthen's accelerationist strategy as being effective, if a revolutionary movement were to not care about justice or people's autonomy. It is a slippery slope that I think can and does work, but at a high cost to human life, making me wish to seek out other alternatives if we were to apply the scenarios from the show to our current revolutionary strategies. I am a novice philosopher, and have been processing my own thoughts about the current state of affairs in the world, so here is some of my insights from someone who has some training to think through complex issues pertaining to justice and ethics. As the current administration of the US government, other world powers and institutions become more resistant to change, and hold their power in bad faith, and as the effects of late stage capitalism and climate change begin to rear their ugly head, I believe we find ourselves past a point where the normal avenues of system change is a viable option. There is now a strong need for escalation in order to reverse current systemic harm, and prevent future atrocities. The nature of this call for escalation, has yet to grow into maturity and take effect, and I hope that we are not too late. Looking at previous examples of revolution and escalation through the lens of Just War Theory, specifically the Probability of Success, and Proportionality of Success clauses of Just War Theory, it becomes very clear that violent revolutions have an incredibly low rate of success, and civil wars having a very high rate of attrition, making escalation and revolution through violent means inherently unjust, and very likely to fail. So the question becomes, how do we escalate the very real need for mass change without resorting to violence? By looking at mass movements (whether these movements are social, spiritual, economic, intellectual, etc.) in the past, it becomes clear that the highest likelihood of success comes from movements that were inherently non-violent, while being very disruptive and destabilizing to the status quo. This does not mean that a movement should not expect to have casualties, because there will violence, but the cause of the violence should always be from the oppressors, not from the oppressed. While I am not comfortable with this conclusion of receiving violence, but not dealing it back. It is the knowledge that I am equipped with, and what the data shows as far as I am aware. To ignore the past in our plotting our way to a new world would be foolish in the strongest of terms. So it is with great emphasis that I implore anyone reading this that feels a need to join an organized movement, to please put your energy towards peaceful means of revolution. Title Andor Franchise Star Wars Genre Dark Fantasy, Sci Fi, Drama Note (Accolades) 8 Awards won Notable Cast Diego Luna, Genevieve O'Reilly, Adria Arjona, Kyle Soller, Stellan Skarsgard, Denise Gough, Fay Marsay, Muhunnad Ben Amor Noteable Crew Tony Gilroy, Diego Luna Platform/Owned Disney+ Est. Hours to Watch 20:00: Excitement 8 Rating 11 Over the course of? Rewatched season one multiple times since release. Watched season two over the course of a month. Roll Credits? Yes Date Finished Mon, Apr 28, 2025 Reason Dropped Reason Finished It was necessary Expectations Exceeded Pacing Feel Too Long Story Visual Storytelling, Exposition Storytelling Production Design Perfection Audio Passionate Moans Audience Cinema Nerds Worth My Time? Yes